Have a sensible default install directory

[rakudo]

Have a sensible default install directory

[moritz]

So what is a good choice?

[JJ]

Most people will have /usr/local, so I guess /usr/local/perl6 or /usr/local/rakudo can be considered "sensible". At any rate, also include instructions to add this to PATH in the documentation :-)

[moritz]

... except that many people don't have write access to /usr/local/, or anything below it.

[JJ]

... in which case they will use the --prefix option, which will also be
included in the explanation of the default configuration options :-)
Or else that self same documentation will say
Always use sudo make install
:-)

[moritz]

I don't understand how forcing the user to use --prefix when he doesn't have write access to a global directory is preferable to forcing the user to use --prefix when he wants to install to a global directory.

Especially since you can't run rakudo from a directory other than the build directory unless you do make install first. So it's especially important that you can do a make install under all circumstances after a build.

[JJ]

If there's no sensible default then the best thing is to not provide one
and just ask. Taking into account that it's not possible to move or change
it once Configure.pl has been run, I wouldn't say
wherever/I/downloaded/rakudo/install is a sensible default. Thus the bug
report/enhancement request.

[pmichaud]

I'm not sure that "no default" (require --prefix=) is more sensible than defaulting to "$PWD/install". I think having a canonical default is much better than requiring the user to figure out where a good install location choice.

I might be okay with a prompt or notice along the lines of "--prefix not supplied; building and installing to $PWD/install" when --prefix isn't specified, giving the user a chance to quickly abort and rerun Configure.pl if they want something different to happen.

Pm

[JJ]

@pmichaud that might, indeed, be a sensible default behavior.